Barnstable lawyer Barros loses license for six months

A well-known Cape political figure Ricardo Barros, a lawyer with offices in New Bedford and Barnstable, has lost his license to practice law for half a year.

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By Robert Gold

capecodtimes.com

By Robert Gold

Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM
Updated Jan 30, 2013 at 6:16 AM

By Robert Gold

Posted Jan. 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM
Updated Jan 30, 2013 at 6:16 AM

» Social News

BARNSTABLE — A well-known Cape political figure has lost his license to practice law for half a year.

Ricardo M. Barros, a lawyer with offices in New Bedford and Barnstable, had his state law license suspended for six months and a day by state Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert J. Cordy.

The ruling stemmed partly from Barros employing a disbarred lawyer in his New Bedford law office as a "bankruptcy specialist."

The state's Board of Bar Overseers recommended the punishment on Dec. 18. Cordy's ruling was issued Jan. 23, giving Barros 30 days to wrap up any pending cases.

Barros, a former Republican state committeeman for the Cape and Islands, has run unsuccessfully for Congress, state Senate and county commissioner.

Barros said he will open his offices back up after the suspension and resume practicing law. He also wouldn't rule out any future runs for office.

"I am not going to throw in the towel," he said. "Bad things happen to good people."

A hearings committee with the Board of Bar Overseers stated that Barros hired Shaun Ellis around April 2009 as a paralegal.

Ellis had been ineligible to practice before the bankruptcy court in Massachusetts, according to a November court filing. He had also been temporarily suspended from the Massachusetts bar.

The hearings committee alleged Barros "knew that Ellis' disciplinary status prevented his resumption of the practice of law. At the very least, it found (Barros) acted with willful blindness towards Ellis' ineligibility and therefore, he was chargeable with knowing it." According to the hearing committee, Barros fired Ellis in August 2009.

The complaint alleges that Barros made Ellis business cards which described him as a "bankruptcy specialist" and didn't state that his work was limited to paralegal duties.

But Ellis was not eligible to practice even as a paralegal.

Barros told the Times he didn't check on Ellis' suspension. "I hired him; I should have checked on the status," he said.

According to the Board of Bar Overseers complaint, Barros practiced under the name "Ricardo M. Barros and Associates" at a time when he had no associates. "His letterhead included the names of attorneys with whom he had no regular consulting relationship or any other on-going substantial relationship in the practice of law," the complaint says.

Barros said he listed a sister who practiced elsewhere on his letterhead. He said website inaccuracies were fixed.

The suspension also stems from another part of the complaint that Barros "knowingly failed to appear for court proceedings involving debts" owed by his corporation."

"I don't agree with it," Barros said. "I'll just have to deal with it."